Disney Pixar's Turning Red picked up quite an amount of buzz after its inital trailer release and a lot of talk about the inspiration behind it, its amazing cast, and how Pixar still has not lost its touch.
Turning Red is a coming-of-age story surrounding a 13-year-old girl, Mei Lee, who finds herself at a fork in the road of life -- she is torn between family loyalty and the chaos of puberty and growing pains of middle school. On top of all that... she turns into a giant red panda.
Similar to a previous Pixar hit, Inside Out, we follow the inner life of a teenage girl, yet instead of fantastical scenarios to explain her emotions, we have young Lee discovering a huge family secret on top of her usual 13-year-old problems: first, her changing relationship with her strict mother, then her friendships start changing, and lastly the absolute horror of puberty is hitting her all at the same time.
Director Domee Shi is already well-known due to her excellent Oscar-winning short, "Bao", about a woman and her relationship with a cute little steamed bun which became a stand-in for her empty-nest syndrome. Turning Red is not all that different thematically, as Mei’s transition to adulthood is personified by another character that surfaces whenever Mei feels any form of a rush of emotions. The movie makes everything so relatable and real; it seems to be made for women by women. And while it is a movie intended for all audiences, it has a hint of nuances that a certain audience might understand better than others.
If that is not enough to make you want to watch this movie, there is also something familiar in the film. Certain moments are inspired by some our favorite classic anime: “Sailor Moon” inspired the art style, “Ranma 1/2” inspired a lot of the animation and transformation moments in the film, and “Fruits Basket” inspired the whole idea of transforming and playing with adolescence and the vibrant color pallet as well.
In a New York Times article, Brooks Barnes mentions how groundbreaking this movie is for Pixar: “Even in 2022, this is groundbreaking stuff for a major animated movie, especially one from the Walt Disney Company." Shi adds, "It’s a side of teen girls that you never get to see. We are just as awkward and sweaty and lusty and excited as any boy.”
Not only is that just completely amazing, but Domee Shi is the first for many and hopefully has created a path that many young women can follow too. She told Barnes, “It felt like you had to know a guy who knew a guy,” she describes. “It can still feel like that, but less so, I hope.”
Domee Shi is the first woman to direct a Pixar short (Bao), the first woman of color to win the Oscar for best animated short film, the first Asian woman to direct a Pixar feature (#TurningRed), and the first woman, period to direct a Pixar movie alone. https://t.co/laDaHRi1Ib
— Nancy Wang Yuen (@nancywyuen) March 9, 2022
The director isn’t the only legend in the movie -- the cast also includes Rosalie Chiang as Mei Lee, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Proya, Sandra Oh as Ming Lee, Addie Chandler as Devin, James Hong as Mr. Gao, and many more!
The film also takes place in Canada and features a slew of easter eggs that Canadians will easily recognize, as Sandra Oh explains below:
Still not convinced? Well, how about this -- Turning Red features a brand new song co-written by Billie Eilish and Finneas, "Nobody Like U":
The film reminds us that there is no need to be perfect all the time. It is okay to not always have control, and being silly/weird can be good. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.
Prepare your popcorn, Turning Red is streaming now on Disney+!